


Doctor Dog

by MamaBearCat



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: And a surfer, Australian AU, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, InuKag smut, Inuyasha is a smalltown vet, Summer Romance, and then they figure out what happens next, inukag fluff, they fall in love, they fall in lust
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 02:17:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21129152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MamaBearCat/pseuds/MamaBearCat
Summary: Inuyasha is a vet, living in a small beach side town in Australia. He loves his life - fulfilling career, surfing, good friends, nice community. He's left his sad past long behind him, and is determined to live in the moment.Kagome is visiting from Japan with her family on holiday, still mourning the loss of her father a year ago. A near fatal drowning accident at the beach has her and her family meeting Inuyasha. Neither of them want to think about the past, and they seem to be just what the other was needing. But what happens when the summer holiday is over? InuKag, with background MirSan.





	Doctor Dog

**Author's Note:**

> Straight up, I'm going to apologise for any mistakes in my romaji - I speak a little Japanese, not much, and my grammar is probably terrible. I've heavily leaned on a few English to Japanese websites for some of these words. After this chapter everyone will speak English, apart from a Japanese word here and there. Phew!

Inuyasha sighed as he leaned his behind on the bonnet of his beat up old camper van and looked out over the ocean. It was a beautiful afternoon, the sun behind him casting long shadows, making him a giant.

He had missed surfing this morning, but he’d been waiting on a call from pathology, and even though the news was what he’d been expecting, it was still hard. As he pulled on his spring suit over his speedos, yanking up the zipper closure, he thought about his patient, Buster, a loveable fourteen year old Labrador, white around the muzzle with age, but still ready with a toothy dog grin every time he saw him. And then there was Sarah Whittaker, his owner.

He took down his surfboard from the roof rack, and tucked it under one arm, and his beaten up beach bag over his other shoulder, he jogged down the steep path that lead down to the beach. Pausing only to drop his bag safely in the sand dunes in his usual spot, he secured the tether around his ankle and ran into the surf, trying not to think. The waves were looking pretty flat, but he needed to be out there at the moment. Even if he just sat on his board behind the waves, anything was better than sitting at the clinic wondering if there was anything else he could have done, anything he’d missed in previous checkups.

He had driven over to Sarah’s house on the edge of town after finishing with his morning clinic appointments to deliver the news.

“Acute canine leukemia.”

They were sitting out on Sarah’s veranda, each with a cup of tea in their hands. Buster lay in a basket at Sarah’s feet.

“So, is it curable?” Sarah had asked, her eyes dropping to her dog’s head, reaching down to stroke the pale blonde fur of those soft ears. A tired tail had thumped against the blanket in the worn wicker basket.

Inuyasha grunted. He hated this. Sarah was in her early seventies, her husband had passed away not two years before, and Buster was her close companion. He’d often see them out for walks along the beach, both travelling along at an easy pace, taking comfort in the sea air and each other’s company. She’d brought him in for a check-up because he’d seemed lethargic and extra thirsty, but with not much appetite for his favourite foods.

As soon as he’d seen the pale gums and tongue and heard that Buster also had diarrhea, warning bells had rung in Inuyasha’s mind. He desperately wanted to be wrong, and for this to just be a viral infection. Sarah needed Buster; anyone could see how much they adored each other. With a sinking feeling, he’d taken blood tests and sent them off to pathology, and this morning his guess had been proven correct. He hated being right sometimes.

“It’s an aggressive form of leukemia”, began Inuyasha. He ran the treatments through his head, all of them invasive and costly. “He’ll need blood transfusions, chemotherapy, possibly a feeding tube if he doesn’t improve his eating.”

“Hmmm”. Sarah continued to stroke Buster’s silky ears, and the old dog whined at her. “Will it cure him?” She lifted her eyes to his.

“No.”

Her sharp pained intake of breath made him want to growl, not at her, but at the unfairness of it.

“I see.” She smiled down at the dog in the basket, his tongue lolling out. “I can remember when Peter first brought him home – he was a birthday present, because I was missing the kids. A little yellow fluff ball, with a huge red bow tied around his fat little tummy. We nearly named him Butterball instead of Buster.” She looked out over the paddock next to the house. “If we did the treatment, how long would he have.”

“At a guess, I’d say a month, maybe two.”

She choked down a sob, still holding herself together admirably. “Is he in any pain right now?”

“He’s probably uncomfortable, I’ve brought along some pain relief for him in my bag.”

“What if…”, she took a deep breath, “what if you just did that for him. Gave him pain relief. How long would he live?”

Inuyasha gazed down at the dog. His muzzle was almost white with age. “Maybe a week.”

“Let’s do that then”, she said quickly. Inuyasha nodded, and went back to his van to grab his medical case.

Buster glanced at him in consternation as he administered the injection, but then turned his face back to Sarah, licking her hand as she spoke gently to him.

“He might be a little sleepy for a while.” Sarah nodded.

“Is there anything special I should do for him?”

Inuyasha shrugged. “Just the usual. You know him best. Spoil him if you want.” He sighed, wishing he was better at this kind of interaction. Usually he bought his vet nurse Kaede with him at times like this, because she was an older, motherly sort of person that was so much better at these kinds of interactions, but she was on two weeks leave. “If you think he’s in pain at all, you can call me at any time – the clinic number is fine, it goes to my mobile after hours. I’ll be back same time tomorrow if that’s okay.”

He bent down to scratch behind Buster’s ears, and the old dog gave him a toothy grin, his tail thumping on the blanket. “See you tomorrow Buster. Be good.”

He stood, forcing a smile onto his face to mirror the teary smile on Sarah’s.

“Thankyou for coming out here Dr. Taisho. Buster and I will see you tomorrow.” He nodded stiffly and walked back to his van, trying not to hear the barely controlled sobbing of the woman behind him. Most days he loved his chosen profession. But some days… it fucking sucked.

* * *

Kagome laughed as Souta chased her through the shallow waves, splashing her with huge kicks of sea water. It was a perfect day, and it felt amazing to be relaxing on the beach with her family after the long nine hour flight from Japan yesterday. The afternoon sun was shining in a bright blue sky, and little white clouds scudded along on the breeze. Grandpa was snoozing under the beach umbrella, and Mama was reading a romance novel, a huge straw hat keeping her face shaded from the harsh Australian sun.

“Quit it Souta”, Kagome squealed, as he managed to get sea water into her eyes. She’d missed this. She loved her little apartment and her job as a pharmacy assistant, but she had missed this closeness with her family. Coming to Australia had always been a dream of hers, to see the country Papa had described as so huge, so beautiful, and so very different from Japan – and it was their first family holiday since Papa had died. They needed this. She mock scowled at Souta and scooped up water in her cupped hands to splash him back, but he evaded her easily.

“Really? Is that the best you can do?” he teased, drenching her again. Squealing with laughter, she ran into the ocean, swimming out a short way to avoid her little brother’s teasing. Kagome was a fair swimmer, but not brilliant, and she’d never been in water this deep before, and never the ocean, so she didn’t go out too far, just deep enough to be able to tread water.

She gazed in wonder at the view of the sleepy little seaside town up on the cliff above the beach. She could see the red tin roof and the wide white veranda of the little house they were renting, along with the brilliant red flowered tree that grew outside it, an Illawarra Flame Tree the owner’s website had said.

Originally, they’d planned to stay in Sydney, but when she’d seen pictures of this little coastal town on the internet, only an hours train ride south of the city, she’d wanted to stay here. It was quieter, peaceful. Only two hundred regular residents, along with a yearly influx of summer tourists. She relished the sound of the waves and the smell of the salt, the warmth of the early Summer sunshine after the cold weather they’d left behind in Tokyo.

And then she suddenly noticed how far away the beach was, and that her feet could no longer touch the sand – somehow, she was being swept out to sea. She tried not to think of how panicked Mama, Grandpa and Souta would be if they noticed she was in trouble. None of them were great swimmers either.

Taking a deep breath, she began swimming back in to shore. But she didn’t seem to be getting any closer; in fact she was further out that when she had started swimming. She fought against the current in panic, trying to breaststroke strongly, but the pale yellow sand of the beach with their striped umbrella was looking further and further away, and she was getting exhausted.

A wave knocked her sideways and her head went under. Kagome kicked back to the surface, spluttering and coughing. She kept her eyes firmly on the shore, trying to swim towards her family, barely able to see them any more in amongst the other families enjoying the beach and the waves that hid the shoreline from her.

Another wave went over her head, and she swallowed saltwater. She was beginning to get tired, barely able to kick her legs anymore. She tried to tread water, but the waves were pushing her around, and more saltwater rushed into her nose and mouth as she tried to call out for help. She could feel herself going under. She splashed her hands upwards trying to keep her head above water, trying to kick her legs. She felt so heavy. Her lungs were burning, and she closed her eyes in despair. She wasn’t going to make it.

A warm hand grabbed hers as she went under, and she felt herself being lifted out of the water as her chest came in contact with something hard and floating. She dropped her head down onto the smooth surface – it smelt oddly of coconuts and wax. A surfboard. She coughed and spluttered, unable to speak. Hands grabbed her legs, swinging them onto the board as she continued to cough, lying face down on the surfboard. A warm hand pushed her head gently to the side, stroking her forehead soothingly. The voice behind her was deep and masculine, speaking English, words she knew should be familiar, but she was too shaken to try and translate them in her head at the moment. Finally she heard something she could understand.

“Nihonjindesu ka?”

“Hai”, she managed.

The stroking on her forehead continued. The hand was warm. “Daijobu uke aimasu”, the voice said. She repeated the words in her head as she spluttered, her lungs burning. ‘Everything is going to be okay. He promised. Everything is going to be okay’. The board was bobbing underneath her, she could hear splashing sounds, and feel the warmth of her rescuer’s body and the smooth rubbery texture of a wetsuit against the bare skin on her back left uncovered by her one piece swimsuit. He leaned forward, his arms cutting through the water in swooping motions, paddling them back to shore.

“Sorry”, she coughed, trying to turn to look at her rescuer. “Sorry for being a bother.”

“Hey, take it easy.” A gentle hand pressed against her shoulder, and she lay back down. “I’m glad you can speak English – I only remember a little Japanese. I’ll get you back to the beach soon – we’ve just gotta paddle parallel to the shoreline to get past this rip. Hold on to the board with your hands if you can.”

As soon as the board skimmed across the sand she was picked up and carried in strong arms. “Looks like you’ve got a few people here that are worried about you”, he said.

“Kagome!”

Her mother’s voice was shrill and worried. She tried to smile and stop coughing as she spotted Mama and Souta sprinting towards her across the warm yellow sand, with Grandpa walking as quickly as he was able behind them, but she was finding it difficult to draw in a deep breath, and soon began coughing again, unable to reply to her mother’s frantic questions in Japanese.

“I think we should get you to a hospital. It sounds like you’ve aspirated some saltwater, and that can be dangerous”, the voice behind her muttered. She tipped her head back and was momentarily mesmerised by the amber eyes looking down at her. She blinked, taking in the dark tan skin, choppy shoulder length white hair darkened to light grey by the water, and finally, a twitching pair of pointed ears.

“Youkai”, she whispered. He grinned down at her, a sharp white fang poking over his lip.

“Haven’t heard that word in a while. I’m hāfu – Dad was an inuyoukai, Mama was human.” His eyes flickered over her in concern when she began coughing again. “Right, we need to get you checked out. I’m gonna call an ambulance.”

He laid Kagome down on her side in the recovery position on the beach towel indicated by her mother, who immediately sat beside her to hold her hand, brushing the dark wet fringe off her daughter’s face. They all watched as the youkai jogged slightly up the beach to a bag which he returned with quickly, digging out his phone and speaking into it urgently. Mama and Grandpa’s hands fluttered around Kagome anxiously as she coughed and wheezed. Souta sprinted back down to the waves and retrieved the surfboard.

They all looked at the youkai with wide eyes as he hung up the phone. “Right”, he said, then noticed Souta holding his surfboard. “Ah, arigato kiddo.”

He scratched his head muttering, “I don’t know if I remember enough to explain this.” He took a deep breath. “Watashinonamaeha inuyashadesu. Um… Kagome”, he gestured towards Kagome, then tapped his own chest, “hai ni mizu”, then waved his hand from side to side, trying to indicate maybe. “Damn, I don’t know the word for ambulance.”

“Kyukyusha”, coughed Kagome, wheezing.

“Right. Byoin e no kyukyusha. Or is it hosupitaru?”

Kagome’s mother looked at him and nodded. “Kagome may have water in her lungs, and you’ve called an ambulance to take her to hospital. Is that correct?”

Inuyasha’s eyes widened, and he rubbed the back of his head. “Ha! Yeah, that’s right. Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed… we get a lotta tourists around here in the summer that don’t speak English.”

“That’s quite alright Inuyasha-san. We’re a shrine family; we’re used to talking to English speaking tourists.” She looked worriedly at Kagome, then breathed a deep sigh of relief when the sound of sirens began to get closer, different in tone to a Japanese ambulance, but unmistakable. “Will they let me go with her?”

“I don’t see why not. But they won’t let all of you go. If you like, I could bring…”, he trailed off as he realised, he didn’t know anyone else’s name.

Kagome’s grandfather gave a slight bow. “Kenshin” he said, then indicated Kagome’s mother, “Kaori”.

“And I’m Souta!” 

Inuyasha grinned at the young teen, then looked up at the ambulance parked up on the hill above the beach.

“I’ll be right back.”

* * *

Not long after, Kagome was being placed in the back of the ambulance. Inuyasha easily lifted Kagome onto the gurney, his ears lowering a little when the female paramedic grinned at him and raised an eyebrow.

“You’ll be fine”, he told Kagome earnestly. “Sango and Kohaku are friends of mine – they’ll take good care of you. I’ll bring your Grandpa and brother, and your Mama will be riding with you. Everything’s gonna be okay Kagome.” He helped Kagome’s mother step up into the ambulance, then gave Kagome a final thumbs up as the male paramedic closed the doors. The motor started up, and they were on their way.

The female paramedic gently placed a breathing mask over Kagome’s face. “My name is Sango, nice to meet you.” She checked Kagome’s pulse, glancing at the colour of her fingernails. “Do you feel dizzy at all Kagome?”

Kagome nodded. “A little.”

Sango smiled at her. “Sounds like you’ve had quite an adventure this afternoon.” She turned the knob to allow airflow into the mask. “This should make things easier for you until we get you checked out at the hospital.” She grinned as she placed a pulse oximeter on Kagome’s finger, and checked the reading. “You seem to have made quite an impression on Inuyasha – I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that talkative with someone he’s just met.”

“Oh really?” replied Kagome’s mother in surprise, as she held on to Kagome’s other hand, rubbing her arm in a comforting manner. “We found him to be very polite and kind.”

Sango snorted. “Polite? Well, he’s definitely kind once you get to know him, but he’s a bit of a diamond in the rough, if ya know what I mean. He’s known around here as a bit of a grump. We always joke that he became a veterinarian rather than a people doctor because his bedside manner was so poor.”

Kagome suddenly laughed, then had a coughing fit. “A dog youkai”, she wheezed, “who looks after dogs?!” The paramedic smiled widely.

“Yeah, but don’t say that to him – I think that joke got old real fast. And speaking of which”, she leaned towards Kagome and sniffed, then sighed. “Now my ambulance smells of wet dog.”

Kagome’s mother hid a smile behind her hand, as Kagome had another coughing fit of laughter, then sighed. “I’m very grateful to him. I don’t know what I would have done if we’d lost Kagome.” She squeezed Kagome’s hand, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Mama”, whispered Kagome. “It’s okay.”

Kagome tried not to think of those moments where she had given up, and then felt his hand close over hers. His hand had been so warm after the coldness of the water. He had told her that everything was going to be okay. The way he had carried her up the beach, as if she had weighed nothing. And his eyes – she had never seen eyes that colour before. Like burning amber. Her heart beat a little faster. She noticed Sango examining the readout carefully as the machine beeped a little faster, and she did her best to calm herself.

Kagome’s mother sniffed, then smiled.

Sango grinned again. “Yup. Our very own Doctor Dog rescuing a damsel in distress; I can’t _wait_ to tease him about this.” Kagome spluttered again.

“Doctor Dog?” Mama questioned.

“Yeah. The ears, ya know?” she said, cupping her hands slightly and placing them up near the top of her head, wiggling them in an ear like motion. “He gave a talk at the local primary school when they were doing a unit about Australian native animals; brought in a sugar glider and a diamond python that had been rescued recently for them to look at. One of the kindy kids called him Doctor Dog and it’s stuck ever since.”

“Does he _like_ being called Doctor Dog?” said Mama, raising an eyebrow.

“He doesn’t mind the kids doing it; but us, not so much. That’s why it’s hilarious”, Sango winked.

Kagome and Mama gazed at each other. Maybe it would take a while to adjust to the Australian sense of humour.

* * *

Souta and Grandpa looked a little uncertainly at Inuyasha’s van. They weren’t sure what they expected a surfing inuyoukai to drive, but a beat up Kombi van with a peeling red paint job probably wasn’t it.

Inuyasha secured his surfboard to the roof rack, then slid open the side door. “You’re in the back Souta – hop in”, he said. There was a bench seat and a little table, and the space behind seemed to be filled with boxes and various medical supplies, stacked haphazardly. Inuyasha opened the front door for Grandpa, helping the older man step up, then closed the door for him and walked around to the other side of the van, sliding into the driver’s seat. The van rocked as he slammed his door closed. His tall frame filled the space behind the wheel, his knees close to the dashboard and his head brushing the roof. Souta noticed he had to lower his pointed ears a little.

“Alright. Seatbelts on? Then off we go. It’ll be about a twenty minute drive – our town is too small for a hospital, so we need to go to the next town up the coast.”

“You speak Japanese very well”, commented Souta, trying to think of conversation topics.

Inuyasha snorted. “I’ve forgotten a lot. There’s no one around here to speak it to, so I don’t have much use for it anymore. You’re learning English in high school, yeah?” Souta nodded.

“What do you do for a living Inuyasha-san?” inquired Grandpa politely, as they drove out of the carpark and down the street that overlooked the ocean down below.

“I’m the local vet”, replied Inuyasha. He glanced and Grandpa and noticed his puzzled look. “Um… dōbutso no isha.”

“Animal doctor?” said Souta, then clarified for Grandpa “Jui, ojichan!” Souta smothered a giggle, and Grandpa glared at him.

“Souta, behave!”

“It’s okay, he can laugh”, said Inuyasha good naturedly. “It is kinda funny I guess, an inuyoukai being a vet.” He glanced over his shoulder and grinned at Souta. “The local kids call me Doctor Dog.”

“Pfffft”, Souta snorted.

Grandpa smiled. “It must make you happy”, he said.

“Hm?”

“Being an animal doctor must make you happy. Being helpful.”

“It does. There are good days and bad days. But usually the good outnumber the bad.” Grandpa nodded.

“That is all you can hope for.”

“How long are you guys in Australia for?” asked Inuyasha.

They were driving along the highway now, pretty soon they would be at the turn off for the hospital. He was still a little worried about Kagome, trying not to think about the possible complications of aspirating saltwater. Pulmonary oedema resulting from the hygroscopic effect of the salt, drawing fluid from other parts of the body into the lungs. Hypoxia from decreased oxygen in the blood. But he was pretty sure he’d got her out of the water fast enough. And he’d seen Sango place the oxygen mask on her face the minute she was in the ambulance, so that would be helping her oxygen levels.

Before he could stop it, his mind wandered to that terrifying minute between when he’d noticed her struggling in the rip and the time it took for him to get close enough to grab her hand. He still felt twitchy with adrenaline. She’d looked so small. He’d been terrified for her when she didn’t answer him straight away, worried that she was in the advanced stages of hypoxia and too confused to respond. That tiny ‘yes’ she’d uttered when he’d thought to ask if she was Japanese had him nearly shuddering in relief.

“Two weeks!” exclaimed Souta, bringing Inuyasha back out of his thoughts. “But I still have schoolwork to complete. And I must write a special assignment on Australia” He sighed morosely. “It was the only way Mama could get my school to agree to us coming now.”

“Is there any special reason you needed to travel to Australia now? Why not wait until the school holidays? Were the flights cheaper or something?”

Souta slumped even further, and turned his head to look out of the window, blinking back tears.

“It is the first anniversary of my son’s death”, said Grandpa quietly. “Souta and Kagome’s father and Kaori’s husband. He loved Australia – he lived here for a time before meeting Kaori, and he often spoke about bringing his family here for a holiday. Kaori wanted to honour those wishes.”

Inuyasha gripped the steering wheel. Fuck. He hated these sorts of conversations. “I see.” His brain whirred, trying to think of some way to change the topic of conversation.

“Hey Souta. Do you think you could do that special assignment on Australian animals? I look after animals that have been rescued from roads and bushfires. If it’s okay with your mama, you could come to my place and we could get photos of you actually holding the animals. Would that help?”

Souta sniffed. “Yeah! Do you have a crocodile?”

Inuyasha snorted. “I don’t think I could manage a crocodile. At the moment I’ve got a baby kangaroo, a ringtail possum, a frill necked lizard and a diamond python.”

“A snake?!”

Inuyasha nodded. “Yup. She’s a pretty big one too. The other kids would be very impressed to see a photo of you holding her, I bet.”

He glanced over his shoulder quickly, pleased to see that Souta was grinning happily. Crisis averted. Alright. Now he only had Kagome to worry about. He manoeuvred the van into the far left lane and turned on his indicator.

“We’re nearly there. Hopefully they’ll let you visit straight away, but I’m not sure if they’ll keep her in for observation for a few hours or the whole night.”

They drove down a few suburban streets, then pulled into the hospital parking lot. Inuyasha turned off the engine.

Grandpa turned to Inuyasha, removing his seatbelt, then bowing forwards in his seat. “Thank you, Inuyasha-san.”

Inuyasha smiled at the old man, nodding back, understanding that the thanks was for more than just a ride to the hospital. “Yokatta”, he said simply.

* * *

_I think all the other romaji words I used are self explanatory due to context, except for the last one maybe. Yokatta can express past happiness: “The way things turned out is good”. In this instance, Inuyasha is saying everything's okay, no worries._


End file.
